CASINO ROYALE
Sony Pictures
Rated PG-13
THE VERDICT:
Character takes precedence over plot in this Bond outing, bringing 007 back as a grittier and more intense secret agent.
3.5/4 stars
If you were a rabid fan of Brosnan-era 007 adventures, “Casino Royale” will not be the Bond for you. The super-spy franchise has gone back to basics in its 21st big-screen outing, with a revamped realism, a grittier, more cynical modern outlook and even a new Bond in blue-eyed Brit Daniel Craig.
Gone are mousy Moneypenny, the terrible sexual innuendos and the painful puns. Gone is silly gadgets guru Q, and with him his armada of laser pens, cuff link explosives and invisible cars. Only Dame Judi Dench is back onboard from previous films, as agency chief M, and it’s a welcome inclusion considering she was the most grounded part of the series for the last decade.
“Casino Royale” starts the Bond story over from scratch, scrapping the cheeky absurdity and consequence-free theme park thrills of earlier installments, and going back to what made Bond cool to begin with – attitude, style and a sense of honest intrigue.
There’s still fun to be had, but always with an edge. Take an early chase scene that finds Bond pursuing a bomber on foot through a Ugandan construction site. To catch his prey, 007 drives a bulldozer, blows up part of an international embassy and does plenty of other irresponsible things that a more cautious secret agent would never do. Though this elaborate mayhem does little to further the plot, it shows how reckless Bond is with himself and others and that he has the ruthlessness to harm innocent bystanders if that violence will help him obtain his objective.
This time Bond’s use of violence is less video game-like and more brutal; there’s a toll on his soul with each fresh body. The film’s great opening sequence, shot in stark black and white, shows Bond earning Double-O status with his first two kills. One death is clean, quick and ripe for a one-liner. The other is a longer, messier affair, with Bond beating and strangling a man to death in a public restroom, and the camera stays glued on Craig’s face at the moment of death, catching both exhilaration and despair in the actor’s eyes.
Naysayers around the globe should be mollified by Craig’s pitch-perfect embodiment of the “half monk, half hitman” Bond. With his short blond hair and piercing blue eyes, he brings to mind Steve McQueen, a man’s man type who in this lucky case is also an actor’s actor. He brings a swagger and instant confidence to the part, as well as a refreshing soulfulness, refilling to the brim what had become an empty suit of late. Craig’s Bond is arrogant, moody and occasionally very funny, albeit in a dangerous way; when his scowl morphs into a smile, he is either seeking to disarm an assailant or he is after something he wants.
What Bond wants this time around is to catch a numbers expert named Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a slick European creep who plays the stock market based on insider information he gets by funding terrorists worldwide. In typical Bond fashion, he also has a physical abnormality, this time “a derangement of the tear duct” that causes him to periodically weep tears of blood. Le Chiffre likes to prove his mathematical prowess and raise money for terror campaigns by mopping up at high-stakes poker tournaments, so when a pricey competition is announced in Montenegro, it’s up to Bond, the best card player in MI6, to end the villain’s hot streak.
Plot, however, is secondary to character in this particular Bond outing; “Casino Royale” is an origin story, planting seeds for later installments, and Bond’s coming to terms with his capacity for violence and incapacity for love are really its heart.
The film has an unusual structure, by Bond standards at least, that may confound many action-hungry viewers. The big set pieces are lumped into the first half of the film, with the second half staring deeper into Bond and his romantic relationship with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), the beautiful government accountant in charge of bankrolling the agent’s stake in the tournament.
Everything one expects in a 007 romp is still alive and kicking, from exotic locales (Venice, the Bahamas) to killer suits and Aston Martins to a brassy ’60s-sounding score (though you’ll have to wait until the very end to hear the franchise’s famous theme music). The supporting cast also adds detail, with Green and Mikkelsen giving far more than one note to what could have easily been bland and sketchy characters. Even small roles come to life when inhabited by performers as gifted as Giancarlo Giannini and Jeffrey Wright.
“Casino Royale” has action, romance, great performances, a touch of humor and, heretofore unheard of in the 007 universe, something to think about once the theater lights have come up. The franchise has finally matured into something hard-edged, cold-blooded and grounded in sadness and reality that make all the high-flying cliffhanging freshly irresistible. After years of stale popcorn overkill, James Bond is cool again.